Synopsis

The region of Central Asia is of strategic importance in the World Trade Organization as the rules-based Multilateral Trading System. Of CAREC’s 10 Members, 5 are WTO Members: China, Kyrgz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan and Tajikistan; 4 are negotiating their WTO Membership: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan; and, Turkmenistan is contemplating application.
The twin objectives of the CAREC: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program are Trade Expansion and Improving Competitiveness. The WTO sets the rules of global trade, regulates global trade and adjudicates disputes. As stated by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo in his 2013 Annual Report on Accessions: "The WTO accession process is a uniquely powerful instrument for domestic reforms and international co-operation. It has raised the profile of trade in overall development policies and is a long-term commitment for trade integration".
At this Panel Session, participants will be introduced to the strategy and achievements of CAREC. This 12-year old Program implements a number of investment and technical assistance schemes to promote trade, including support for member countries' WTO accession and post-accession implementation commitments. It identifies projects that ensure that CAREC Member Countries can benefit from an open, rules-based Multilateral Trading System.
The panel discussions will explore how WTO accession can promote Central Asia's intra-regional trade as well as its connectivity to the global trading system. It will highlight the Program's related transport and trade facilitation initiatives, which complement WTO accession in furthering regional integration, supporting domestic reforms and country-owned modernization programs.

Mr. Mozammil Shinwari was appointed Deputy Minister of Trade of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries in December 2011.
During the last two years, Mr. Shinwari has been leading Afghanistan's endeavor to accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO). At the same time, he successfully led numerous regional and bilateral integration initiatives within the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Economic Cooperation (SAARC), the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC), and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Mr. Shinwari is the main representative of Afghanistan in the meetings of these organizations, fully engaging private sector stakeholders and keeping the general public informed.
Previously, he held numerous high level positions including Director General of the International Trade Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industries from October 2009 through December 2011, Advisor to the Minister of Commerce and Industries from March 2009 through October 2009, and Budget Formulation and Policy Manager at the Ministry of Finance from December 2007 through 2009. Concurrently with his civil service work, Deputy Minister Shinwari was a visiting lecturer at Kardan University during 2008 through 2010.
Mr. Shinwari received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from Preston University in Pakistan. He is currently completing his Masters of Business Administration at the American University of Afghanistan.

H.E. Nazriev has been Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan since 2009. He has served in the government in various functions since 1999, including as aide to the President on economic policy and as chief advisor on Tajikistan's trade representation in the Russian Federation.

H.E. Zhanar Aitzhanova is Minister of Economic Integration of Kazakhstan since April 2011. After holding senior positions in the United Nations system in 1993-2002, she joined the government in 2003 as Vice-Minister of Industry and Trade, when she also served as the Chief Negotiator on Kazakhstan's Accession to the WTO until 2010. In 2010-2011, she served as Minister of Economic Development and Trade before assuming the present office.
H.E. Aitzhanova holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA, and has completed a number of post-graduate study programmes in Austria, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.
Besides her native Kazakh, she also speaks English, Russian, and Czech.

Chiedu Osakwe (born 1955) from Nigeria is WTO Director of the Accessions Division. His previous WTO positions include Special Coordinator for LDCs and Head of the Secretariat Working Group on the Integrated Framework for LDCs, Office of the Director-General (1999-2001).In this position he was Chairman of the Inter Agency Working Group (IAWG) for the Integrated Framework.He has also served as Director of the Technical Cooperation Division (2001-2002); Director, Textiles Division (2003-2005), Director, Doha Development Agenda - DDA Special Duties Division, Office of the Director-General (2005-2008). Prior to joining the WTO Secretariat, Mr. Osakwe was a Nigerian Foreign Service Officer (1979-1998). In this period, he served at the Permanent Missions of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York (1983-1986) and to the GATT/WTO (1993‑1998). As Nigerian Delegate to the WTO, he was Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Origin (1995 and 1996) and Chairman of the Committee on Pre-Shipment Inspection (1997/98).He coordinated the WTO African Group in 1995. In recognition of his contributions to the Foreign Service, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him Ambassador in situ in 2010.Mr. Osakwe was educated at the Universities of Ibadan, and New York University (NYU), from where he obtained his PhD.He has published in several areas, including trade policy, the rule of law and nation.His most recent publications include: "Developing Countries and GATT/WTO Rules: Dynamic Transformations in Trade Policy Behaviour and Performance, Minnesota Journal of International Law, Summer 2011, Volume 20, Issue 2; Agreeing and Implementing the Doha Round of the WTO, edited by Harald Hohman, October, 2008; Are WTO Members Wrestling an Octopus.Did they set their Sights too High?, OECD/Development Assistance Committee News, Nov-Dec, 2005; Poverty Reduction and Development:The Contribution of Trade, Macroeconomic and Regulatory Policies, Distinguished Speaker, 10th Joseph Mubiru Memorial Lecture, Bank of Uganda, 2001; Nigeria:Half a Century of Progress and Challenges, 2011, edited Ikokwu Chiogu Constance; "Finding New Packages of Acceptable Combinations of Trade and Positive Measures to Improve the Effectiveness of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A General Framework", in Trade and Environment: Bridging the Gap, 1998, edited by Fijalkowski, A and Cameron J, Cameron May.

Dr. Pradeep Srivastava is the Principal Economist and Head of the Asian Development Bank's CAREC Unit. Prior to assuming this position, he headed the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Secretariat for 3 years while supervising ADB’s Southeast Asia work on trade facilitation. He was instrumental in reorienting the the GMS program and widening and deepening GMS corridors through the development of the new GMS Strategic Framework 2012-22, and the formulation of the GMS Regional Investment Framework (RIF), a master planning exercise to identify second-generation, multi-sector regional investment projects. Prior to his GMS work, he was also the task manager for two other regional cooperation programs, IMT-GT and BIMP-EAGA.

Dr. Srivastava has a PhD in Economics from Yale University and has also worked with the Harvard Institute for International Development, the World Bank and National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER, Delhi).

Arancha González, an expert in international trade issues with 17 years of experience, serves as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC). She joined the organization in September 2013. Ms. González, a Spanish national, has extensive knowledge about international trade and economics, coupled with broad experience in trade and development matters in the public and private sectors, as well as in management at multilateral organizations.Before joining ITC, Ms. González served as Chief of Staff to World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy from 2005 to 2013. During her tenure at the WTO, she played an active role in launching the WTO’s Aid for Trade initiative and served as Mr. Lamy’s representative at the G-20. Prior to working at the WTO, Ms. González held several positions at the European Commission, conducting negotiations of trade agreements and assisting developing countries in trade-development efforts. Between 2002 and 2004, she was the European Union spokeswoman for trade and adviser to the European Union Trade Commissioner.Ms. González began her career in the private sector advising companies on trade, competition and state-aid matters. She served as an associate at Bruckhaus Westrick Stegemann, a major German law firm, in Brussels.Ms. González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a postgraduate degree in European Law from the University of Carlos III, Madrid. Besides her native Spanish, she speaks English, French, German and Italian.

Mr. Zhu Hong is the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of China to the World Trade Organization. Before that, he was the Deputy Director General of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), China.
He joined MOFCOM’s predecessor, the former Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade in 1983, and has been working in the area of trade and economic cooperation since then. His major responsibilities include China’s FTA negotiations, regional economic cooperation and multilateral cooperation. He was China’s chief negotiator in China-Chile, China-Peru, China-Costa Rica, China-Pakistan, China-Switzerland and China-GCC FTAs. He has also worked closely with UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNCTAD and UNOCHA on the multilateral issues. He is currently serving as the Member of Advisory Group for Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Office.
In his early years at MOFCOM, Mr. Zhu also worked in the fileds of trade statistics, foreign exchange and finance, import-export management, and served as the commercial councilor in the Chinese Consulate General in New York from 1993 to 1996.
He is a graduate from Nanjing University and later obtained MA degree on economics from China Remin University and MA degree on public policy from National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan.